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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Autumn in a Texas garden

Hello, fellow bloggers!

It's that time of year when Texas gardens are shaggy and in need of serious cleanup, yet so many plants are still full of blooms.  Witness my Mrs. B.R. Cant rose, a sample of which is shown here. 

If that isn't an in-your-face rose, I don't know what is.  This bloom is about 3 1/2" in diameter and smells so heavenly sweet.  I paused frequently in today's labors to enjoy her.  I'm not showing the whole plant because she was severely deformed by a huge oleander rudely growing all over her but which now isn't huge anymore.  Trust me when I say the 7 ft. rose still has many blooms on it.  I pruned back the oleander, which was probably 10 ft. tall, and a giant pittosporum that had covered up a living room window.  And now the living room has more natural light once again!

The stars of this fall Texas garden are the lovely asters.  

 Oh how I do love asters.  They grow like weeds here in the full, blistering summer sun and wind with nary a complaint.  A single hard trim in mid-summer ensures blankets of blue (really purple, but "blue" in the plant world) for Halloween.  I started these three plants (and yes, they really are only three plants, two in front, one crowded one in back) from cuttings 3 years ago and put them in the ground 2.5 years ago.  From single cuttings.  THAT'S how fast and big they grow.

 I will be digging them almost completely out after they bloom and sharing them with neighbors and anyone else who wants a friendly, uncomplaining guest to their garden.

Note: I see the head gardener left her wheelbarrow and oleander cuttings in full sight so as to mar the picture.  *sigh*  It was a working day.

Today's card is a simple one since the designer was hard at work earlier in the day on the aforementioned garden cleanup.

I used the same "Grunge Resist" method as yesterday's card with different stamps and inks.  I discovered that distress inks work better as they have more "slide" than SU inks which tend to grip the paper too much, dry too quickly, and leave too many streaks.  I used So Saffron for the base coat, then TH Vintage Photo and Victorian Velvet for the additional colors.  Stamps used were Flourishes Witching You a Happy Halloween and All That Glitters, Penny Black (candle), Gourmet Rubber stamps (chair).  CS is Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, and glossy white.  Inks used are Versamark and Staz-On Black.  Two SU rhinestone brads finish things off.  CAS all the way!

Thank you for visiting me in my garden, and I hope you have a lovely day.  Happy Crafting!!

Challenges entered are:

FOSTV Challenge #43 - Halloween or Harvest
Simon Say Stamp Challenge - Eerie
Charisma Cardz Challenge #41 - CAS
Fussy and Fancy Challenge #74 - Anything Goes
Drunken Stampers Challenge #102 - Napoleon's Buttons (buttons and/or brads)
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes




17 comments:

Bibi Lindahl said...

Yet another great grunge resist card, Shea! :-) TFS!

Your garden looks beautiful and I can almost smell the rose through the screen (and all the way over to Norway).
I LOVE that mosaic "tower"!

XOX,
Bibi

Kristie said...

Great card, Shea!

Your garden is just beautiful and that rose is just stunning, now if they would come out with scratch and sniff screens so we could all smell how beautiful it smells. :)

Ellen Taylor said...

Your gardens are absolutely stunning!! Fabulous resist card!The framing is terrific!

Donna said...

Fantastic Halloween card!
Thanks for playing along with the "Napoleon's Buttons" challenge at Drunken Stampers this week!

Anonymous said...

Your flower garden is just gorgeous! I'm liking that grunge resist more and more.....love your card, too! Funny thing....I have that Penny Black candle stamp and have used it - ONLY for Christmas cards. Way to think outside of the box! TFS

Vee said...

Fabulous CAS design.Thank you for sharing you garden pics they are just amazing. Thanks for playing with Charisma this week.
xx Vee

Claudia said...

Hello Shea,

great card! Thank you for sharing with us at Charisma Cardz Challenge and good luck!

Hugs

Claudia

Céline said...

gorgeous card
thanks for playing with us at fussy and fancy this week
hugs
céline

Melissa Bove said...

Such a fabulous card! Love the technique you used to create it!!

And your garden is lovely!! I love Asters too and yours is amazing! So pretty!!

Thank you very much for joining us this week at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog!

Hugs...
Melissa

Janine said...

Thanks for joining FOSTV43 and fior sharing your flowers and card. Don't miss our blog hop!

NGCARDS said...

Great creation hun! Thanks for playing along at Charisma! xxx

stampingbowd said...

Very cool Halloween card!! Nice and spooky!! Thanks for joining FOSTV this week!

simply monica said...

this is so neat... totally beautiful love love it - please come back to the next CIS paint challenge for sure awesome.

Hugs Monica

DIANA L. said...

Very pretty I love the stamping on your card.
Thank you for joining us at Creative inspiration paints.
CI design team member
DIANA L.
http://dianamlarson.blogspot.com

Ravengirl said...

Very cool! I like the technique you used on this card! Thanks for playing along with the Friends of Speedy TV!

Unknown said...

Shea,

Your garden is beautiful. However, I am interested in the obelisque that is covered in tiles and possibly gems. Did you create that yourself? I love it!!

Shea said...

Hi Tink! My mother created and installed that obelisk about 5 years ago, and it ensures that I'll always have color in the island bed. :) Thank you for the compliment!